Copyright and the Repository
What can I deposit in KEEP?
The goal of the KEEP is for ASU to share collections as widely and openly as possible. Content added to KEEP is governed by U.S. Copyright Law. Authors adding content retain ownership and copyright of their materials.
While ASU Library strives to accurately represent the copyright status and reuse rights for content included in KEEP, we make no express or implied warranty to others who wish to use digital materials where the copyright status or reuse rights are unclear. Users are responsible for obtaining appropriate permission for materials to be reused. For questions about copyright, trademark or other rights, please contact Ask a Librarian.
Copyright Status
When considering the copyright status, there are two possible scenarios:
1. Author Owns All Rights
Authors own full copyright to materials and can submit to KEEP.
2. Publisher Owns Some or All Rights
This occurs when authors sign an agreement with a publisher. Typically, such agreements may transfer some or all rights to the publisher. Publisher copyright policies determine if, and in what form, materials may be submitted to an institutional repository. The Copyright for Authors Library Guide provides more information about publishing agreements and negotiating rights in order to self-archive your work.
Most publishers allow the post-print article (defined as the post-peer reviewed version of the article that is accepted by the publisher for final publication) to be submitted to an institutional repository. You can review your publication agreement to determine what is allowed by your publishers, or check Sherpa/RoMEO for a list of default journal publishers' archiving policies, and uses the following terms to define different versions of a work:
- Post-print: the final, revised version of an article after peer review but prior to publisher’s formatting.
- Pre-print: the author’s version of the article before peer review.
- Publishers PDF: the final, published version of an article.
Open Access Button also provides a detailed explanation of different versions of a manuscript.
Contact Researcher Support for assistance with publisher rights and policies
Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations
Please see the Copyright section of the Graduate Theses and Dissertations page for more information.
Rights and Reuse
The majority of the content in KEEP is currently under copyright protection. There are three steps required to ensure repository materials conform to U.S. Copyright Law:
- Materials are deposited via a non-exclusive distribution license. See the KEEP Terms of Deposit.
- Copyright status of materials is identified in a rights statement.
- Reuse permission designate how others can reuse materials found in the repository.
Rights Statement
A rights statement provides information about the copyright status of authored works. Copyright falls into three general categories: Statements for materials that are in copyright. Statements for materials that have no copyright. Statements for materials that have no known copyright. Since KEEP includes current works created by the ASU community, these works will be in copyright with very few exceptions.
Reuse Permission
When you add your content to KEEP, you can prescribe how and when others can reuse your materials. Creative Commons licenses provide an international standard which empowers creators to give explicit permissions to potential users with guidelines for receiving attribution for their work. You are strongly encouraged to clarify the copyright status of all materials prior to deposit.
KEEP provides six non-commercial reuse licenses.
- Creative Commons Attribution
- Creative Commons Attribution + NonCommercial
- Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike
- Creative Commons Attribution + NonCommercial + ShareAlike
- Creative Commons Attribution + NoDerivatives
- Creative Commons Attribution + NonCommercial + NoDerivatives
If you wish to reuse materials from KEEP, you must contact the author or creator for any reuse permissions that are not allowed by the assigned Creative Commons license.
Alternative Designations
KEEP offers two alternative reuse designations when regular Creative Commons licenses are not applicable.
- CC0 “No Rights Reserved”: CC0 enables scientists, educators, artists and other creators and owners of copyright- or database-protected content to waive those interests in their works and thereby place them as completely as possible in the public domain, so that others may freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under copyright or database law.
- All Rights Reserved = this statement indicates that the copyright holder reserves or holds all the rights provided by copyright law. The statement has no legal effect in any jurisdiction, but KEEP provides this option to clearly identify materials that should not be reused or redistributed without the express consent of the copyright holder. It is important to note that some use of materials with this designation may fall under Fair Use.
ASU Library recommends that users of KEEP materials include attribution as a matter of good scholarly practice and/or as required by the applicable Creative Commons License.